*1170 Miracle of the weeping icon of the [[Theotokos]] "[[Mother of God of the Sign|of the Sign]]" at Novgorod; Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland; city of Dublin captured by the Normans.

*1170 Miracle of the weeping icon of the [[Theotokos]] "[[Mother of God of the Sign|of the Sign]]" at Novgorod; Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland; city of Dublin captured by the Normans.

+

*1173 Death of [[w:Richard of Saint Victor|Richard of Saint Victor]], prior of the famous Augustinian [[w:Abbey of St. Victor, Paris|abbey of Saint-Victor]] in Paris (1162-1173) and one of the most important mystical theologians of 12th century Paris.

*1176 [[w:Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm|Sultanate of Rum]] defeats Byzantine Empire in the [[w:Battle of Myriokephalon|Battle of Myriokephalon]], marking end of Byzantine attempts to recover Anatolian plateau; Al-Adil I, Muslim ruler of Egypt, suppresses a revolt by Christian Copts in city of Qift, hanging nearly 3,000 of them.

*1176 [[w:Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm|Sultanate of Rum]] defeats Byzantine Empire in the [[w:Battle of Myriokephalon|Battle of Myriokephalon]], marking end of Byzantine attempts to recover Anatolian plateau; Al-Adil I, Muslim ruler of Egypt, suppresses a revolt by Christian Copts in city of Qift, hanging nearly 3,000 of them.

*1177 Latin King Baldwin of Jerusalem and his knights, with Templars, defeat Muslim army of Saladin at [[w:Battle of Montgisard|Battle of Montgisard]].

*1177 Latin King Baldwin of Jerusalem and his knights, with Templars, defeat Muslim army of Saladin at [[w:Battle of Montgisard|Battle of Montgisard]].

The History of the Church is a vital part of the Orthodox Christian faith. Orthodox Christians are defined significantly by their continuity with all those who have gone before, those who first received and preached the truth of Jesus Christ to the world, those who helped to formulate the expression and worship of our faith, and those who continue to move forward in the unchanging yet ever-dynamic Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

Contents

Post-Roman Schism (1054-1453)

1054 Cardinal Humbert excommunicates Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople, a major centerpoint in the formation of the Great Schism between East and West; First Letter of Michael Cerularius to Peter of Antioch.

1059 Errors of Berengar of Tours condemned in Rome; term transubstantiation begins to come in to use, ascribed to Peter Damian.

1144 Bernard of Clairvaux calls for a Second Crusade to rescue the besieged Latin kingdom of Jerusalem; Kings Louis VII of France and Konrad III of Germany join Crusaders, but are defeated by Muslims; Muslims take Christian stronghold of Edessa.

1147 Moscow founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruki, a ruler of the northeastern Rus'; Roger II of Sicily takes Corfu from the Byzantine Empire, and pillages Corinth, Athens and Thebes.

1176 Sultanate of Rum defeats Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Myriokephalon, marking end of Byzantine attempts to recover Anatolian plateau; Al-Adil I, Muslim ruler of Egypt, suppresses a revolt by Christian Copts in city of Qift, hanging nearly 3,000 of them.

1177 Latin King Baldwin of Jerusalem and his knights, with Templars, defeat Muslim army of Saladin at Battle of Montgisard.

1180 Last formal acceptance of Latins to communion at an Orthodox altar in Antioch.

1182 Maronites, who assisted the Crusaders during the Crusades, reaffirm their affiliation with Rome in 1182; dedication of Monreale Cathedral in Sicily, containing the largest cycle of Byzantine mosaics extant in Italy.

1228 Sixth Crusade results in 10-year treaty starting in 1229 between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Egyptian sultan; Jerusalem ceded to Franks, along with a narrow corridor to the coast, as well as Nazareth, Sidon, Jaffa and Bethlehem.

ca. 1280 Kebra Nagast ("Book of the Glory of Kings") compiled, a repository of Ethiopian national and religious feelings.

1281 Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople, excommunicating Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and the Greeks and renouncing the union of 1274; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year.

1285 Council of Constantinople (Second Synod of Blachernae) discussed and rejected the pro-western interpretation of the Trinity as enunciated by Patr. John XI Bekkos, as well as rejecting the decisions of the Council of Lyons of 1274, and condemning the the Roman (Byzantine) "latinophrones".

1379 Western Great Schism ensues, including simultaneous reign of three Popes of Rome; death of the venerable Philotheus I (Kokkinos) of Constantinople in exile, an anti-unionist who opposed Emperor John V in his intent to negotiate re-union of the churches with Popes Urban V and Gregory XI.

ca. 1380 English Church reformer John Wyclif writes that the true faith is preserved only in the East, "among the Greeks."

1423-24 Council of Siena in the Roman Catholic Church was the high point of conciliarism, emphasizing the leadership of the bishops gathered in council, but the conciliarism expressed there was later branded as a heresy.

1433 Nicolas of Cusa writes his major work on church government, The Catholic Concordance (De concordantia catholica), a manifesto of conciliarism, advancing the notion of a constitutional papacy subject to the authority of a council representative of the different parts of Christendom, balancing hierarchy with consent.

Notes

Some of these dates are necessarily a bit vague, as records for some periods are particularly difficult to piece together accurately.

The division of Church History into separate eras as done here will always be to some extent arbitrary, though it was attempted to group periods according to major watershed events.

This timeline is necessarily biased toward the history of the Orthodox Church, though a number of non-Orthodox or purely political events are mentioned for their importance in history related to Orthodoxy or for reference.

Published works

The following are published writings that provide an overview of Church history:

From an Orthodox perspective

Papadakis, Aristeides (with John Meyendorff). The Christian East and the Rise of the Papacy: The Church 1071-1453 A.D.The Church in History Vol. IV. Crestwood, N.Y. : St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 1994. ISBN 9780881410587